


No Two Without Three

by Lawrin_Lewis



Category: Love Live! School Idol Festival (Video Game), Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: (my favorite type of birb), All-knowing Nozomi, Angst with a Happy Ending, Background NozoEli, Background RinPana, Dense Kousaka Honoka, Emotionally clumsy Umi, F/F, Feelings Realization, Getting Together, Happy Birthday Honoka, I swear KotoUmi are not standing Honoka up on her birthday, Light Angst, Minor Nicomaki, QPP Rinpana, Scheming Kotori, They're better than that, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:33:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25429966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lawrin_Lewis/pseuds/Lawrin_Lewis
Summary: Ever since Umi and Kotori had started dating, Honoka had slowly come to the realization that she was the third wheel in their relationship. The revelation grew a knot in her heart, a bitter feeling she couldn't explain. With no choice but to accept the truth, she had learned to swallow the pain and weather through the hardship.But when Umi informed Honoka she planned a date with Kotori on Sunday (the day of Honoka's birthday), Honoka realized she couldn't bear her problem alone anymore. Enter the other Muse members, who each give Honoka their own tiny piece of advice on love, life, and relationships.
Relationships: Kousaka Honoka/Minami Kotori/Sonoda Umi
Kudos: 10





	No Two Without Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Umi and Kotori have a surprising announcement

Around the table, everyone was already seated, waiting. Nozomi played with her tarot deck. She flipped a card over and grinned unreadably. Honoka wondered what she saw in her cards. Meanwhile, Nico had her face in her hand, looking bored out of her mind.

“Where’s Umi and Kotori? I thought they were the ones who asked us to meet at the club room instead of the roof. We could be practicing right now!”

“Calm down, Nico-chan,” said Maki. “There’s probably a good reason why we’re here instead. Besides, we don’t usually start practice without everyone present, do we?”

Nico groaned in response.

Honoka’s eyes flickered through the room. She took out her phone and sent a message to both Kotori and Umi, asking them about their whereabouts. Tardiness was unusual for them, especially for Umi. Eli shot her a look of disapproval. Honoka sheepishly put her phone back into her bag, even as Nozomi tried to mollify Eli’s frown. Not that Eli could actually punish her for breaking the rule or anything. Honoka was the student president now. The executive and judicial powers were all hers.

Just then, Kotori opened the door, a beaming smile on her face. She dragged a blushing Umi in the room.

“Finally!” Honoka exclaimed.

“Sorry for making you wait, everyone. Umi-chan here was having some nerves right before.”

Nico smirked. “Seems like she’s still having nerves now,” she teased. Umi started blushing harder.

“I-I’m fine. Ju-just a bit n-nervous.”

Hanayo peeked over, interrupted from her animated discussion with Rin just a few moments ago. She opened her mouth to comment, before deciding to keep her quiet. Rin wasn’t so sensitive to other’s moods.

“Really, nya? You look like you’re about to pass out. Or explode, nya.”

Umi mumble-babbled something close to “Really, I’m fine,” but Honoka suspected she and Kotori might have been the only ones who understood.

“Maybe you should take more time to prepare? We don’t need to rush it,” said Eli.

Umi took a deep breath. “No, it’s something we need to get out of the way now.” A determined expression replaced the panicked one, even if her face was still flushed. Honoka loathed to admit it, but Umi was really beautiful when she was so serious. Unfortunately, Umi’s pretty semi-frowns usually appeared when she was scolding Honoka. What an unpleasant association.

Umi’s hand moved to clutch Kotori’s. Kotori smiled at her warmly as she interlaced their fingers. For a fleeting moment, something in Honoka’s heart clenched painfully. Before she had any time to think about it, the feeling disappeared, replaced instead by excited anticipation. _I probably imagined it_. Whatever news they had was bound to be exciting.

Umi cleared her throat. “Actually, since three days ago,” - the members seemed to have slowly caught on to what she was about to say as their eyes widened - “Kotori and I have officially started dating.”

An explosion of Congratulations! bursted in the clubroom. Honoka saw the smiles on their faces. Happiness bloomed in her chest as well. In retrospect, she should’ve seen it all coming. It was obvious since the start, from the way they look at each other. Strangely, Honoka couldn’t pinpoint when the two’s relationship shifted from platonic to romantic. It just seemed like the natural next step. However, all the happiness in the world couldn’t change the fact that…

“How comes you two kept it a secret from _me_! You sly dogs.”

Visibly surprised, Kotori and Umi briefly looked at each other before turning to look at her.

“Well,” Kotori started, her face gentle but also concerned, “we thought you knew by now. We kind of expected you to realise it yourself, Honoka-chan.”

Honoka gaped at her. Kotori looked genuinely apologetic. Honoka felt even more like an idiot. But think as she might, she couldn’t remember any standout events in the past three days.

“We’ve been feeding each other during lunch time,” said Umi.

“We also text each other much more often than before.” Kotori opened her phone and showed Honoka her mailbox. It was split about half-half between Umi’s and Honoka’s messages. They were mostly from yesterday night, averaging about 50 an hour.

“I kissed Kotori’s cheek right in front of your eyes, Honoka.” Umi tone sounded like a threeway between exasperation, dismay, and resignation.

Now, Honoka was truly confused.

“B-but you do all of those things with me too, right? Is that a big deal?”

Umi paused. “I suppose you’re right,” she said coolly. She was pointedly avoiding Honoka’s eyes.

“Well… That’s a bit different with you, Honoka-chan…”

“How!?”

From the other side of the room, Nozomi chuckled. “Honoka-chan, I think what Umi-chan and Kotori-chan are trying to tell you is that their affectionate gestures towards each other wasn’t something they’d usually do. That’s why, the fact they started doing all that - those things they already normally do with you - is a sign that their relationship changed.”

The cogs in Honoka’s brain turned and churned and rotated painfully, before she finally understood.

“Oooooh, ok ok, I see.” Something was still off, but she got the gist of it.

Umi seemed relieved.

Kotori flashed her characteristically soothing smile. “Now that our announcement is over, we can go practice. Sorry for holding everybody up.”

Everyone hand waved her apology as they filed out of the clubroom. Honoka stayed behind to lock the clubroom. She thought it was a rather unnecessary precaution, but Umi insisted it be a rule. In the staircase, Nozomi called out to her.

“Honoka-chan, if you don’t hurry up, you’ll be left behind!”


End file.
